Live game update: Can the Raiders keep the Chargers down?

So they’ll have the ball twice as long as the Chargers, they’ll gain almost three times as many yards as the Chargers, and they’ll make Philip Rivers’ life more miserable than it’s been in weeks. In many ways, this is the Raiders’ finest hour.

And yet, despite the run of play, the run of the scoreboard still shows 7-7, and the hardest part of the Raider game plan comes now — halftime adjustments.

Then again, the Raiders typically have more adjustments to make than they seem to today. They have gotten sufficient pressure on Rivers to make the San Diego passing game inert, and Tomlinson has carried only seven times. Offensively, the Raiders have gotten the ball to everyone but Randy Moss, and that would be fine if one of those other folks could actually scare the Chargers.

But it seems unlikely that San Diego will have the ball for only 16 minutes the entire game, and Tomlinson isn’t going to end up with only 14 carries, so the Raiders’ fate rests again with its defense. That means, if nothing else, that they have an excellent chance to cover the spread, as well as your under bet.